the article you posted is 9 years old, right when the vitriol was at an all time high post-Decision.
The NBA is in an amazing spot and owes a lot to Lebron. If competitive balance is your gripe, go back through all of nba history and find a multi-year stretch where more than 4-5 teams were championship contenders.
People don’t realize that what makes this league great is there is so much drama to follow that doesn’t even have to do with who wins in June, that’s actually what makes it fun.